878 CEthe twelfth ima ̄mwithdrew from the world, but would return in order
to purify the world at the end of history.^14 The Shı ̄ites in India were not
averse to following forms of Islam not considered appropriate in classical
Islam. These Shı ̄ites, for example, believed in the efficacy of pı ̄rswho could
have been folk heroes or spiritual masters, even after death. The tombs of
pı ̄rs, known as dargahs, became centers of worship, and pilgrimage focused
on such sites on festive occasions. The most significant commemorative event
for Indian Shı ̄ites has been Muh.arram, the anniversary of H.usain’s
assassination, when mourning and family gatherings mark the occasion.
Shı ̄ites also tended to observe more sacred days than the Sunnı ̄s, including
special events in the life of Muh.ammad. But both Sunnı ̄s and Shı ̄ites in India
have made a feast (‘ı ̄d) of Muh.ammad’s birthday and have incorporated a
number of Indian customs into their rites of passage and ritual life. It is also
not uncommon to find Muslims, and especially Shı ̄ites, sharing a pilgrim
site with Hindus on the grounds that some Muslim saint had performed
a significant act at that place. New sects of Shı ̄ism, indigenous to the
subcontinent also appeared. One such movement was that known as the
Ahmadı ̄yah movement.^15 Its founder declared himself to be the Mahdı ̄ who
had returned and the prophet (rasu ̄l) for a new time. The Ahmadı ̄yahs
claimed that Jesus had survived persecution, and had fled to Northwest India
where he eventually died. In short, the Shı ̄ites and their ima ̄msin India
tended to incorporate folk and indigenous elements into their religious
orientation.
The other major branch of Shı ̄ism has been the Isma ̄‘ı ̄lı ̄s, also known as
the “seveners.” They claimed that the eldest son of the sixth ima ̄mwas the
appropriate successor of the interpretive tradition (the ‘Asharı ̄s had claimed
that the younger son of that ima ̄mwas the correct one).^16 Once strong in
Egypt and anti-‘Abbasid, even militantly “nationalistic” in their approach,
they spread into Gujarat in Northwestern India, where they indigenized and
took on various forms of the Indian cultural landscape. The Isma ̄‘ı ̄lı ̄s split
into several groups, each group following a different ima ̄m. In recent
decades, many Isma ̄‘ı ̄lı ̄s have come to be very progressive and highly
educated, taking leadership roles in a number of Indian cities.^17
Su ̄fı ̄sm
The third major form of Islam impacting the subcontinent was Su ̄fı ̄sm,
perhaps the most generally liberal and most influential of all these
movements. Su ̄fı ̄sm had its start in the deserts of Arabia where it grew as a
parallel movement to the rise of Islam. In the early stages of the movement,
Su ̄fı ̄s often thought the Caliphs to be corrupt and/or unresponsive to
the best intentions of Islam and often differed with the ‘ulama ̄‘sas to the
The Coming of Islam 133